Pentecost: a deep fire inside

Pentecost: A deep fire inside

One of the most moving songs in the popular musical Billy Elliot by Lee Hall and Elton John is ‘Electricity’, sung by Billy at his audition at the Royal Ballet School in London. Set during the 1984 miners’ strike in England, the musical is about a young boy in the north of the country who wants to be a dancer. Everything is stacked against him but he has real talent and finally gets to go to London for an audition. On the day, he has a disappointing interview and feels that he’ll never succeed, but, as he leaves the room, one of the interviewers asks him what it feels like when he’s dancing. He replies by singing ‘Electricity’, saying that he feels a deep change inside him, like fire burning. Words are not enough to describe the transforming experience he goes through but he feels released and alive. It’s confusing and disorienting but also inspirational, opening him up in an amazing way. Billy whirls across the stage, showing what a superb dancer he is—and, of course, he gets accepted…